Olajuwon to be hired by Rockets as mentor for centers

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Having awoken to find their signing of Dwight Howard was not a dream, the Rockets were close Sunday to bringing the Dream back to the organization.

Hakeem Olajuwon, a key part of the Rockets’ recruiting efforts to land Howard and a large part of the festivities Saturday after Howard signed, will rejoin the Rockets in an official capacity for the first time since he spent the final season of his career with the Toronto Raptors in 2002.

Olajuwon’s duties and title are being discussed, and he will spend much of the year at his home in Jordan. But he will work with Rockets interior players, as he does with big men around the NBA each offseason, as a team employee.

“We are going to bring him in as full-time as is possible,” Rockets general manager Daryl Morey said Sunday. “It’s not done, but we have mutual interest to get it done, and we’ve had some early discussions.

“We want him to work with Dwight and Omer (Asik), and he wants to do that.”

Olajuwon, 50, has worked with Howard in two offseasons, and Howard has spoken about training with him again, this time as the latest in the line of Rockets All-Star centers.

“He has improved so much,” Olajuwon said. “I like with the Houston Rockets he will get a chance to show his true potential. That’s exciting. The last two years, he has not really been given that opportunity to really, really express his game, his comfort level and confidence. Here he has a team that is willing to do that. They want him to do that.

Good relationship

“I just tried to show what he is trying to accomplish basketball-wise, this is the best team for him. No question about that. That was very clear. You can see he is excited. He’s happy. The city is excited. This is a great choice. That’s why everybody can’t wait to start.”

Rockets officials will not have to wait long for their first glimpse. Morey and several coaches will be in Los Angeles to observe workouts with Howard and a group of Rockets players. Coaches cannot direct the offseason workouts, limited to working on individual skills, but they and Morey are permitted to watch. Howard, James Harden, Jeremy Lin, Chandler Parsons, Terrence Jones, Patrick Beverley, Greg Smith, Omri Casspi and Isaiah Canaan are scheduled to participate.

Canaan, a 6-1 guard, was signed Sunday to his rookie contract, a three-year deal with all but a small portion of his third season guaranteed. Forward Robert Covington, who excelled in the Orlando summer league, also signed a three-year deal, with the first season guaranteed.

Covington, 6-7, was undrafted out of Tennessee State. Morey said he is “almost elite” as a shooter and is a strong defensive player.

Flurry of signings

The Rockets also signed B.J. Young, a 6-3 rookie guard out of Arkansas, to a three-year contract with a small first-year guarantee.

Casspi is expected to sign Monday, with Reggie Williams and Francisco Garcia signing in the coming days. The Rockets are not expected to sign or trade the rights to forward Kostas Papanikolaou before he faces a deadline this week to opt out of his Olympiacos contract. Papanikolaou, acquired in the trade of Thomas Robinson to Portland, wants to come to the NBA this season, but the Rockets don’t have the cap room to offer him a sufficient contract. He is part of their plans for next summer.

The Rockets are not expected to use their “room” mid-level exception, choosing to hold it to fill needs that could arise or if players are bought out of their contracts.

But with the roster taking shape, they could move on to bringing back a former player who will stand out even behind the scenes.